A 200-level Chemical Engineering student just lost his life for partaking in a bet in an attempt to swim across a river. the condition is that if he is able to swim across the river, he gets about $0.3 which is equivalent to about 300 naira. as a typical Ijaw man, i understand how this works and usually, during swimming in the creek for fun, a lot of bets goes on ranging from bets on who can last longer under the water to who can swim across certain rivers even with zero safety measures in place.
these are all life threatening bets that has taken a lot of lives just in a bid to proving a point that you are a good swimmer or to win the token that is promised to the winner of the bet. its all gambling and this can be really fun if safety measures are in place but without your safety as a gambler, there are bets you should never be a part of. other forms of bets that falls in this category can be betting on who can drink the highest bottle of beer within a stipulated timeframe or even taking some risky ride that is life threatening. life is always going to be more important than any short term fun or the reward that comes with winning these kind of bets.
gamble responsibly and gamble allowing your brain work for you. it's not all bet that are worth it.
SOURCE: Varsity student drowns in Bayelsa creek over N300 bet This is not the first time that I heard about this type of life threatening bets, I read stories of gamblers betting on consuming plenty food within a fixed time or drinking soft drinks within a stipulated time unfortunately ended their life, I hate all these kind of betting, I think those who engaged in that act always have the confidence that they can win the bet based on the fact that they had previously done it before thus repeating the same act would be easy unfortunately ended up losing their lives I think that was what happened with regards to the story by the OP.
It has become a case that is quite frequent and occurs a lot about this, not only threatening but there are indeed cases where because of gambling they end their lives because they experience excessive pressure such as stress that they cannot stand until the last option is to end their lives thinking this way can solve all their problems, indeed it can solve their own problems but there is still a possibility that their problems will be borne by their close relatives.
People who are addicted to gambling will usually focus on what they want, which is victory, this can make them forget about awareness and boundaries that should be high-risk actions and endanger their lives, sometimes they can do it freely, this is not true because it is not recommended either but what can you do when they are addicted to gambling, it is not easy to prevent it because stubbornness tends to increase.